the date of the endowment of a parish church. The establishment of the bishopric of Dunblane by David 1. must be placed about the year 1150. The first appearance of its first bishop, Laurence, in a dated document is in the year 1155. It is perhaps impossible to say with precision in the case of Dunblane whether the parishes, with precise parochial limits, preceded the bishopric, or the bishopric the parishes. But with regard to one parish church, that of St. Cathan of Abruthven, we learn that it received its dowery land (terra in dotem) from the father and mother of Earl Gilbert, Earl Ferteth and his wife Ethen.1 Now Earl Ferteth died in the year 1171.2 The origin of the other parish churches in the gift of Earl Gilbert is not mentioned. They were doubtless older than Abruthven; and, from the fact of the earl possessing the jus patronatus, it is not improbable that they had been originally endowed by the family of the Earls of Strathern.

The dedications of the five churches granted by the Great Charter, and of five out of the six churches granted subsequently by Earl Gilbert, all point in a striking way to the memories of the ancient Celtic Church in the district of Strathern. St. Serf appears thrice, at Dunning, Monyvaird, and Tulliedene; St. Bean, at Kinkell, and at Fowlis; while we find St. Ethernan at Madderty (in the diocese of Dunkeld), St. Patrick at Strogeith, St. Kessog at Auchterarder, St. Bridget at Kilbride, and, as we have seen, St. Cathan at Abruthven. The solitary exception is the church of the Holy Trinity at Gask; but, of course, this church too may have had its origin in the times of Celtic Christianity. By the time of Earl Gilbert, however it may have been in earlier days, each church has its terra dotalis, and its rights to teinds and dues. Parochial boundaries and parochial right may not come clearly into evidence till after the great Church revival subsequent to the time of Queen Margaret; but that churches were numerous in

1 No. XIII.

2 Chron. de Mailros, s.a.

early days throughout this district of Scotland cannot be doubted.1

Other parish churches are mentioned incidentally in charters of Earl Gilbert's time, as, for instance, Crieff, Muthill, Strowan, Tippermuir, Cargill, Aberdalgie, and Cluny, some in the diocese of Dunblane, others in the diocese of Dunkeld.

Confining ourselves for the present to Dunblane, we find some contributions to the Fasti of the bishopric. An attempt at determining the succession of the bishops will be found elsewhere. As regards the archdeacons, we find John, Archdeacon of Strathern in the time of Bishop Jonathan. He seems to have been succeeded by Gilbert, either before the death of Bishop Jonathan or while Bishop Abraham was still only elect (No. XXIX.). Gilbert continues Archdeacon of Strathern after the death of Earl Gilbert (No. LI.), and is found as archdeacon in 1234 (No. LXI.). In January 1239-40, Luke is archdeacon (No. LXVII.). Master Augustine is the next Archdeacon of Dunblane who appears in our records. He was in office in 1283 (No. cxIII.). In 1287 W. de Munros is archdeacon (No. cxvIII.). After a wide lacuna we have Nicholas of Kynbuk archdeacon in 1358. Andrew is archdeacon in 1365 (No. cxxxv.). From other sources some of the deficiencies of this list can be supplied. But the names given above are here exhibited to show that with care something might yet be done to supply a regular and consecutive list of the leading officials of even such an obscure diocese as that of Dunblane. We shall not burden these pages with an attempt to exhibit the succession of the deans of Dunblane. The evidence is less

1 The careful presentation of the Latin text by Dr. Maitland Thomson (see No. XXXIX.), enables us to offer an explanation of the origin of the form Iphernan' (for 'Ethernan') which sometimes appears. The Anglo-Saxon letter p was probably mistaken for p.

2 See p. 258.

3 It seems to be this archdeacon whose son Gilbert witnesses No. XXIII.

We find Master L. (perhaps the same) dean of Dunblane at a later date (No. LXXV.).

abundant than in the case of the archdeacons; but here too a good deal might be done by careful research.1

ECCLESIASTICAL CHANGES IN THE TIME OF BISHOP CLEMENT (1233-1258).

On the death of Abraham, Bishop of Dunblane, which must have occurred shortly after the accession of Earl Robert, the bishopric appears so much impoverished, through alienations, that it was all but impossible to find a fit person to accept the see. We find, indeed, that a certain Ralph was elected to the see; but he seems to have resigned before his consecration. There is also evidence that Osbert held the see for some time; but before 1231 he was admitted to the monastery of Holyrood, and died there a professed canon of the house. Bishop Clement, who succeeded, in the presence of Pope Gregory 1x. gave a pitiable account of the condition in which he found Dunblane. He says that the see was destitute of the solace of a pastor for nearly ten years, and that the revenues were scarcely sufficient to support the bishop in decency for a halfyear. If his statement as to the ten years be correct, it must be interpreted by supposing that Osbert had early in his episcopate retired to Holyrood and resigned: in other words, that he was not bishop at the date to which his death is assigned. Or, possibly, Osbert continued to be nominally bishop but was non-resident. The condition of things was such that the Pope committed to the Bishops of St. Andrews, Brechin, and Dunkeld to make provision to the see. They advanced Clement, a Dominican friar; and their choice was

2

1 The only attempt at work of this kind with which we are acquainted will be found in the pages of Mr. Mackenzie E. C. Walcott's work, The Ancient Churc of Scotland. But its deficiencies are very great, as will be seen (not to go outside the pages of the present volume) by a comparison of his list of the archdeacons with the few contributions supplied above only from the charters before Beside Scottish record the labourer in this field would, of course, consult the Calendar of Papal Registers.

us.

2 The Dominicans (Jacobins) had been introduced into Scotland in 1230.. Scotichr. ix. 47.

justified by the event. Everything points to Clement having been an active and capable prelate.

Clement was consecrated on September 4, 1233. And some four years later Gregory Ix., in a remarkable letter,1 informs the Bishops of Glasgow and Dunkeld that Clement had described to him the miserable condition of the cathedral church of Dunblane. The building was without a roof, the divine service was conducted by a country chaplain (capellanus ruralis). There was no 'collegium,' that is, there was no body of canons at Dunblane, and the bishop could not find a place where he might lay his head.

To restore things to some decency, and supply the bishop and a chapter with a revenue for their adequate maintenance, the Pope issued a mandate to the Bishops of Glasgow and Dunkeld, first to ascertain the accuracy of Clement's account, and then, if they found it to be correct, to adopt one of the two following courses. They were either to assign a fourth part of the teinds of all the parish churches of the diocese of Dunblane to the bishop for his own maintenance and the maintenance of a dean and canons, if the two bishops could do this absque gravi scandalo: or else they were to transfer the episcopal see from Dunblane to the monastery of St. John of the canons regular in the aforesaid diocese, i.e. to Inchaffray, and to assign to the bishop the fourth part of the teinds of the parish churches which were held by secular parsons. In other words, the only churches which in that case were to be mulcted were those churches which were not appropriated to monasteries. There would be no need to provide for a chapter, which would be furnished by the canons of the monastery of Inchaffray. Thus we see how very near things came to the disappearance of the bishopric of Dunblane, and the erection of a bishopric of Inchaffray, at least, to the appearance of the bishopric of Strathern with its see at Inchaffray, the canons of

1 Theiner, Monumenta, No. 91.

d

which monastery were to have the right of electing to the bishopric in the event of a vacancy.

If the latter course had been adopted, we should have had a cathedral constituted like St. Andrews. But as the events show, the Bishops of Glasgow and Dunkeld resolved on the first of the two alternatives.

That there was much opposition to this diverting of a fourth of the teinds away from the parsons and the monasteries may be naturally assumed; and the actual evidence that is forthcoming shows us that the monasteries, at least, made a struggle to resist, or to secure as good terms as possible. The agreement between the convent of Inchaffray and Bishop Clement on this subject (showing that Inchaffray had raised opposition to the payment of a fourth) obtained a confirmation from the Pope, which is printed for the first time in this volume.1 The struggle on this subject between the bishop and the monasteries may be placed about the year 1238. It was certainly so in the case of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, which had three parish churches in the diocese of Dunblane,2 and which contested the bishop's claim till an amicable settlement was made on January 29, 1239-40.3

The agreement made between Cambuskenneth and the bishop is interesting as exhibiting the two commissioners of Gregory Ix. (the Bishops of Glasgow and Dunkeld), in the process of creating anew a chapter for the cathedral of Dunblane. The Abbot of Cambuskenneth and his successors were henceforward to be canons of the cathedral chapter, and were required to find four marks yearly for a vicar (i.e. a vicar of the choir) who would serve for them in the church of Dunblane. Four other marks were to be paid yearly by Cambus

1 No. LXXX. This confirmation by Innocent IV. (dated April 24, 1251) had in all probability been preceded by a confirmation of Gregory IX., which is not now forthcoming.

2 Kincardin, Tulybody, and Tulicultry.

3 See Regist. de Cambuskenneth, No. 125.